One Long Week
by Gabe
Summary: Chapter 2, titled, "Secrets Told and Hearts Broken." Is up! READ AND REVIEW!!!!!!!!! The story is just begining, there's still 6 days left in the week...
1. The Makings Of A Bad Day

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One Long Week

Chapter 1- The Makings Of A Bad Day

Written by: Gabe - Let me know about that site!

Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me, but to Bright, Kaufman and Crane Productions and Warner Bros. Their use is not intended for profit, only for entertainment.

Author's Note: This is my version of how the whole J/R/R storyline might go down. Its going to have a lot less humor than my other fics and more Drama, Romance, and Angst. This is my first dip into the dramatic side of Friends. So be kind in your reviews,

Joey Tribianni sat at his kitchen counter with a bowl of cereal in front of him, and a spoon in his hand. His situation was driving him crazy. He didn't know how he got there, but some how, some way; he ended up falling in love with the girl next door. The door 10 feet from his very own.

He had told himself a million times, "There are rules Joey!" You don't date roommates. And if that rule was small enough to break, the next one wasn't. You don't date your best friend's ex-girlfriend. Not just ex-girlfriend, ex-wife.

Rachel and Ross had so much history. It seems like no matter what was happening in his life over the last eight years; there was always something between Ross and Rachel going on too. Falling in and out of love, having the "We were on a break!" argument more times than he could count, getting jealous over each other's new partners. For eight years that's all they did. And somehow, in between all that, the two of them had the time to get married and divorced.

He cursed at himself again in his head. He knew he shouldn't feel the way he did, but he couldn't help it. Who could spend so much time around Rachel Green and not fall in love with her eventually? It was impossible. A blind man could fall in love with just the sound of her voice. A deaf man could fall in love with just the sight of her smile. A blind and deaf man could fall in love with just her touch. 

He finally understood how amazing Rachel Green was. She was beautiful in every single way a person could be. And somehow, over the last few weeks, this beautiful girl had managed to steal his heart.

He told his friends it was just a crush. Some odd burst of feeling stirred up by one great date. The best date he had ever been on. Joey smirked to himself as he realized that his best date ever, was one of the few ones where he didn't get laid.

That just showed him even more. Rachel Green was amazing.

He repeated the words in his head; "It's just a crush." And looked up at her bedroom door as he heard it start to open. A second later, she emerged from her room. Wearing a pink pajama outfit with fuzzy bunny slippers that he had let her borrow one night and never had the heart to ask for them back. They looked much better on her anyway.

"Hey sweetie." Two words. So simple, yet music to his ears.

Joey decided against words, he could accidentally slip up, and then all hell could break loose. He instead just smiled and nodded at her as she made her way into the bathroom to fix herself up for work. 

Joey sighed and left his bowl of half finished cereal on the counter. This was getting out of hand. This "crush" wasn't going away. He stood and walked out their door, quickly making the short journey into the apartment across the hall. He arrived just in time to see Monica putting her coat on. "Hey Mon."

Monica quickly finished throwing on her jacket and grabbed her purse. "Hey Joey." She opened the door he had just closed and said, "Bye Joey," before closing the door behind her. As the front door closed, the bedroom door opened, and out of it came a very sleepy looking Chandler Bing. He was still in his pajamas and was still unaware that Joey was in his kitchen.

"Hey Chandler."

Chandler jumped slightly, startled by Joey's voice. He hadn't noticed him standing there. "Hey Joe." Chandler thought about how strange it was for Joey to be up before him. He quickly glanced over to the clock, and squinted his eyes at it to try to make out the time. He wasn't wearing his glasses or contacts, so the simple task was actually quite a challenge.

Joey noticed Chandler's odd face and at first thought he was just giving him an evil look for coming over to his house so early. But after a few seconds of confusion Joey realized that Chandler was trying to see what time it is. "It's 8 am man." 

"Oh," was all Chandler replied. He shook his head lightly to fix his vision and then looked back to Joey. "Joey…It's a weekday. And it's before noon. Why in the world are you awake?"

Joey sighed and took a seat at the familiar kitchen table. "It's this whole crush thing Chandler...it's driving me nuts."

Chandler made his way into the kitchen and took a seat across the table from his friend. "It's a crush Joe. That's what they do. They stick in your head for a few days, drive you nuts, and then they go away."

"I know…but…it just…it seems deeper than that."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. This is so hard man. This has never happened to me before."

Chandler looked a little strangely at him. "You've never had a crush on someone before?"

Joey shook his head. Chandler was not getting it. But it also occurred to him that he couldn't expect Chandler to understand it until he did himself. "No. I've had plenty of crushes before. The problem is, none of them have ever felt like this."

Chandler narrowed his eyes at him. He really didn't know what to make of the situation. It was really starting to sound like Joey had deep feelings for Rachel. But that just didn't seem like the Joey he knew. The Joey he knew never got deep feelings for anyone, much less his roommate and ex-wife of his best friend. He wasn't sure what the right thing to say was. It was the times like these he wished Monica was around to do all the talking. That way if anything went wrong, it wouldn't be his fault. Although his wife would probably take it out on him anyways…

"Well Joe, honestly…it sounds like you're feelings for Rachel are little bit deeper than a crush."

Joey was relieved inside. Someone finally understood him. "See! That's what I have been thinking! I think it's more than just a crush!" Joey's blood was pumping now. He had quickly exited his chair and was no pacing back in forth in front Monica and Chandler's kitchen sink.

Chandler could see the emotion in Joey. This was so unlike him. He found himself wondering what exactly Rachel did to turn his once womanizing, yet somehow charming best friend into the big bundle of nerves and confusion he saw in front of him. "So what *do* you think it is?"

Joey took a deep breath. He raced his left hand behind him to grip the kitchen counter, and slowly pulled his body towards it. Once he was leaning against it, he brought his right arm up to also grip the edge of the counter. He looked at Chandler, and monotonously let out the words, "I think I'm in love with Rachel."

Chandler's eyes grew wide. That was not the answer he was expecting. But before he could let out a single word of amazement the door burst open and Rachel entered. She was now out of the pajama outfit and was sporting a gray business suit that perfectly complimented her pregnant body.

"Good morning guys." Both men mumbled out their responses and looked back to each other. The look on Joey's face made it obvious that Chandler was to keep their conversation between the two of them. The look on Chandler's face was that of pure bewilderment.  
Chandler's state of shock was broken by Rachel muttering, "Hey Chandler?"

Chandler tore his eyes from Joey and glanced over at Rachel who was now taking a seat across the table from him. "Yeah Rach?"

Rachel took a bite from her newly acquired bagel and looked at the messy haired man in front of her. "Don't you ever work anymore?"

Chandler smirked and leaned back in his chair. "Well, you know how I lied to my boss and told him me and Monica got divorced?"

Rachel remembered Monica relaying the story to her a couple of weeks ago. "Yeah."

Chandler smiled, obviously very proud of what he was about to say. "Well, last week I told him I needed a week off to move out of my apartment and hire a new lawyer. And, thanks too how much he hates his ex-wife, he told me to take as long as I needed."

Rachel nodded along with the story. "Wow. But won' you guys miss the extra income that won't be coming in?"

Chandler's smile brightened as he kept his glance on Rachel. "No. You see, it's a paid vacation I got going here.

Rachel raised her eyebrows, "Wow, that is impressive."

"I know." Chandler smiled as he nodded his head. "So how did you sleep last night Rach? Was the nausea still bad or did it go away?"

"It was ok. It only really started to get bad about 6 am this morning. After that, sleeping seemed like it was pretty hard. But before then everything seemed fine." 

The answer didn't come from Rachel, it came from Joey. Both Chandler and Rachel stared oddly at him before Chandler chimed in with a comment. "Wow Rach. I love the new manly hair do. Starting to swing the other way. And that ketchup stain on your jeans is so unlike you. You better hope Monica doesn't see it because if she does she's gonna make you take her laundry course 101 all over again." Chandler smiled at Joey, who obviously was entertained by Chandler's sarcasm, but Chandler wasn't done. "And by the way Rach, what happened to your boobs?"

Rachel and Chandler both laughed as an annoyed Joey took a seat on an open chair at the table. "Ha ha," he replied, the annoyance in his voice was obvious. He was partly annoyed with himself though. He couldn't keep doing that. He couldn't keep slipping up and letting how much he really cared about Rachel come out. For an actor, pretending to not be in love shouldn't be too hard.

But it was. It was the hardest thing he'd ever done.

"Well, as much as I'd like to stay around and watch Joey do his impression of me some more, I have to go to work. Unlike some people, if I want to keep my job, I actually have to go to it." Rachel stood up and grabbed her purse. She gave one last smile to Chandler and Joey and then she headed out the door.

"Oh. My. God." Chandler let out a moment or two after she left. 

"What?! What?!" 

"You are *so* in love with her! I can't believe this! This is huge!" Chandler was now out of his seat, pacing back and forth on one side of the table as Joey paced around on the other.

"I know!" It was all happening so fast, it was almost like a dream. Joey was happy someone else knew though, and he was happy Chandler was that someone. He could trust Chandler to keep his secret.

Chandler's jubilation from uncovering Joey's secret quickly faded away as he came to another startling realization. "Joey." He took a deep breath. "Ross is going to kill you."

Joey nodded as if he already knew. "I know. But what am I supposed to do Chandler? I love her! I! Love! Her! And those two haven't been interested in each other for years!"

"It doesn't matter Joey! They dated! They were married! She's having his baby!"

Joey wasn't about to back down, even though he wasn't so sure that he was right. "I know! But where has Ross been these last few months?! Sure, he's around to take her to that stupid….llama…la.. la…"

"Lamas class?"

"Yes! But that's it! Other than that it's been me thee helping her through all this!"

"That doesn't make you the father of her baby Joe." Chandler was trying to calm him down. He felt bad for Joey. He had never seen him with such strong feelings for a woman before, and he knew how bad it must hurt to not be able to do anything about them.

"But it means you can't use her being pregnant against me!" Joey was irrate. He knew Chandler was right, but it just hurt to much to admit. He loved Rachel. He had finally admitted it to someone other than himself. And now he just wanted to admit it to her.

"I'm sorry man. I know this must be killing you. But there are rules Joe. You can't tell Rachel how you feel. I mean…can you imagine how chaotic things would get?"

"I know Chandler." He sat back down at the table. "I know. You're right…I just gotta wait for all of these feelings to go away." Joey nodded a Chandler as if to tell him that's what he was going to do.

"Ok. Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go get a bath. A nice, warm bubble bath." 

"Don't forget your boat."

"I wont." Chandler stood and made his way into the bathroom. Joey sat alone at the kitchen table, trying to organize his thoughts. He went through scenario and scenario in his head, trying to find a way he could tell Rachel how he feels and not hurt Ross.

After about 10 failed scenarios in his head, the door to the apartment opened and Ross stepped in. He looked somewhat perky in his black suit, perfectly equipped with shiny shoes, a white dress shirt, and a yellow smiley face tie.

"Good morning Jo…" Ross stopped mid-sentence and looked at his watch. "What the hell are you doing up so early? Haven't you gone to bed yet?"

Joey tried not to let his frustration with the man show. After all, this was Ross, the number one reason why he couldn't be with Rachel. Ross, unconsciously and unknowingly, was keeping Joey from being with the one woman he had ever really and truly loved. "I don't know. But it definitely feels odd to be awake before noon."

Joey decided to play along with his little joke. There was no use in letting Ross know that he was a mess inside. 

"Where's Chandler?" Ross managed to get out before taking a big bite out of an apple.

"In the bath. He's not going to work today."

"Really?" Ross nodded his head, and then looked wide-eyed at Joey as he got an idea. "Hey! I'll call in sick to work too! And then all three of us can hang out all day and have fun!"

"Sounds great!" It didn't sound great. It sounded horrible. All day with Ross meant a lot of chances for Joey to screw up and let the truth slip out. Secrets were not his high point. But what could he say?

"Cool! We're all gonna play hooky!" Ross quickly ran to the phone and started to dial. Joey rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair. This was going to be a long day, and he was going to have to watch his tongue. He knew whenever they got together they talked about women. Joey sighed, this had the makings of a bad day. 


	2. Secrets Told and Hearts Broken

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One Long Week

Chapter 2- Secrets Told and Hearts Broken

Written by: Gabe - Don't forget to check out my site, http://gabesfriends.cjb.net -- equipped with friends fics from various authors and a message board for all the authors to chat about new ideas, review fics, and chat about the show. If your interested in having your fics published their, just email me at @ ChandlerGabe@aol.com

Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me, but to Bright, Kaufman and Crane Productions and Warner Bros. Their use is not intended for profit, only for entertainment.

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Author's Note: This is my version of how the whole J/R/R storyline might go down. Its going to have a lot less humor than my other fics and more Drama, Romance, and Angst. This is my first dip into the dramatic side of Friends. So be kind in your reviews.

The three men all sat on the familiar couch in Central Perk. Each had their own preferred drink in hand and had their feet propped up on the coffee table in front of them. Chandler, sitting in between Joey and Ross, sighed, and then spoke. "You know what? This is just sad. We all have the day off, yet we're still here, at the coffeehouse, doing the exact same thing we do on normal days. We should be out doing something exciting right now."

Joey and Ross both stared blankly at Chandler. Both were wondering how they could go from a perfectly good discussion of the female anatomy to that. Joey chimed in first, "Wow. You being married is really starting to show. You used to love talking about women…especially their body parts."

Chandler rolled his eyes, "I'm serious man. We should get off this couch, go out, and do something crazy. It'll be fun. Then we can go home and brag to the girls that we did something wild while they spent their whole day at work."

Ross shrugged, "I don't know Joey. The man has an idea…it could be fun." Ross really didn't care what they did. It had been a long time since the three of them had really hung out together. Ever since Chandler got married their time together had seemed to dwindle. Now with fatherhood just around the corner again, Ross was anxious to spend as much time with his two best friends as possible.

Joey smirked, "I doubt there's anything crazy out there that I haven't done already." The truth was, Joey didn't want to go anywhere. He liked the situation as it was. As long as they were in the coffeehouse, Joey knew nothing unexpected would be thrown his way, and that made it easier to hide his secret. 

Chandler stood up. "Come on, we are leaving this place and going to find something new to do." He didn't wait for Ross or Joey to reply he simply threw a ten-dollar bill on the table and headed for the door.

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Joey, Ross, and Chandler had been walking for quite awhile. None of them had sighted anything new, or relatively exciting for them to do, and all three were growing weary of the idea. They walked in silence another half of a block when Chandler held his arms out and stopped his two best friends dead in their tracks.

"Right there," Ross and Joey looked at the building Chandler had just indicated with the nod of his head. "Senorita Maria's Palm Readings an Fortune Telling."

Ross laughed. "You can't be serious. All theses places are just big cons, strictly made to cheat your hard earned money away from you." Joey mumbled his agreement and looked back to Chandler, seeing if he agreed with his two less enthused friends.

"Nope. We're going in. None of us has ever done it before, and it's semi-exciting, so it fits our standards. Besides, it's cold out here and I'm willing to bet they got heat." The three of them glanced at one another and headed on into the building.

It was a very fancy shop. The carpet was red, and the walls were painted a dark purple, with fancy gold frames and chains hanging all around. Chandler led the way to the front desk, which was decorated in assorted colors of fabric. An older lady sat behind it, with light gray hair, mostly hidden by a strange pink and purple cap worn titled on her head. Chandler quickly stated their business there and they were immediately led back to a dark room with a round table in the center of it. 

Each of the guys took a seat and the strange old lady took one across from them. "Welcome to my lovely business gentleman. I promise you, you won't be disappointed with the acute accuracy of my predictions. First, to prove my knowledge of the future is real; I will tell you something about yourself that you already know, but something that I, a stranger, would not know. But first, everyone must join hands."

Ross was awfully glad to be in the middle, because that left Joey and Chandler to be the unlucky men who had to hold the hands of the strange old lady in front of them. After everyone's hands were connected, she began.

She nodded at Chandler; "We'll start with you. You are a newlywed. Your parents are divorced…Ah!" She exclaimed as if she had revealed some vital piece of information. "You used to fear commitment, but now you embrace it. You love your wife very much." Chandler was nothing short of impressed. He smiled as Maria moved on to Ross.

"You…you doubt my talents. You used to embrace commitment, but now you fear it. You've had your heart broken one too many times. And on more than one occasion the woman you were sure was the love of your life, left your life. But fear not young man, realization, risk, and possibly love are in your very near future." Ross was genuinely surprised by the lady's accuracy. He hadn't expected her to really know that much about him. She continued on to Joey.

"Oh wow. You young man…you're in love. You have a pure soul paired with a betraying heart. The one you love is the one you absolutely shouldn't…The secret is killing you…it's eating you alive…you just want to let it out…And you!" She quickly shot her gaze towards Chandler; "You already know the secret." 

"What about me?" Ross questioned. "Do I know the secret?" 

She closed her eyes for a few seconds…"No. You do not…In fact…you can never know the secret…because you are the cause of his pain." 

Joey had heard enough; he quickly let go of Ross' and Maria's hand and left the room. Ross quickly followed leaving Chandler to pull out his wallet and pay the lady for her time. Before he exited the room, she warned him. "Be gentle with your friend, the road ahead will not be easy for him."

Chandler found Joey and Ross sitting on a bus bench outside. All three were impressed by the woman's accuracy, but only Ross was confused as to what Joey's fortune meant. "What was she talking about Joe? Who are you *so* in love with?"

Joey sighed and replied with a simple, "No one." That was too close. Ross already learned way more than he ever wanted him to know. He didn't want Ross to have to know he was the reason Joey couldn't be happy. He certainly would not want to hear he was a burden in Ross' or Chandler's life. 

Ross believed him, I mean after all, this was Joey, and Joey didn't fall in love with any women. Joey was not a monogamous kind of guy, and Ross knew that. So when he said he wasn't in love with anyone, Ross didn't think twice about it. He even went as far as joking about it. "I was gonna say, 'Listen lady! This is Joey Tribianni! He doesn't get deep feelings for anyone! He doesn't fall for women! He just falls for their bodies!' " Ross laughed and looked over at Chandler and Joey, both sitting straight faced, not thinking the joke was funny at all.

Joey was torn inside. What was the right thing to do? He wanted so bad to let the truth out, not caring who he hurt in the process. But there was another part of him, who was forever loyal to his friends. He wanted so bad to be selfish. He wanted, for once in his life, to put himself before his friends. And he was going to.

"Alright Ross. There's something that I haven't told you."

Ross was concerned, and his faced showed it. Very rarely did he see Joey this serious. 

"Ok." Joey took a deep breath and looked to Chandler, who was obviously holding his. "Lately, this weird thing has kind of happened to me. I have…for the first time in my life…fallen in love. And…I don't know how it happened. I mean one second, I felt nothing, and then in an instant, boom! There it was. This strange, new, scary feeling…that I had never felt before. And…from the moment I felt it, the first thing I wanted to do was share the great news with all my friends…but I couldn't do that."

"Why not? Being in love is one of the greatest things that can happen to a person. You should share that with everyone. I know I have…every single time." 

Joey shook his head. "No, see it's different for me Ross. I'm not supposed to be in love with the person that I'm in love with. I'm…"

Ross cut him off, "Oh my god." Ross had just come to a realization. Both Chandler and Joey were scared of what might be coming next. "I get it…Now I understand why you couldn't tell me."

Joey felt a moment of relief. He knew that this was not over, but the fact that he didn't actually have to say the words "I love Rachel," to Ross' face was definitely a minor victory. "You figured it out?"

Ross sighed and shook his head yes while Chandler remained silent. "I can't believe you're in love with her."

Joey quickly jumped in, "Ross, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen. And if you don't want me to move forward with these feelings, I won't." Joey wasn't so sure he meant that. 

"How can you love her though? I don't even love her yet and I have spent way more time with her than you have. I understand Mona is a nice girl and all but how could you fall so quickly for her." Joey shook his head and looked away as Chandler dropped his face into his hands. Ross looked at Chandler. "What's wrong?"

Chandler sighed, "He's not in love with Mona, he's in love with someone else." He didn't elaborate any further; it wasn't his place to say anything more. 

Seeing that Chandler wasn't going to go into any further depth, he turned back to Joey. "Joey, will you please tell me what's going on? Whatever it is it can't be that bad." Ross had no clue how wrong he was.

"Ross…" he paused, but then continued on after some urging from his dark haired counterpart. "I'm…I'm in love with Rachel."

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The events of that day went nothing like Joey imagined they would. When he woke up that morning he thought he would spend the day really thinking about his feelings, and if possible, find a way to get rid of them. Instead, Chandler ended up figuring him out, and a few short hours later, he confessed to Ross what he had been hiding the last couple of weeks.

Ross was not mad at Joey for feeling the way he did. Ross knew that sometimes you just couldn't help whom you fall for. And Ross, of all people, understood how easy it is to fall in love with Rachel. Ross didn't get mad a Joey, until Joey told him he wanted to tell Rachel about his feelings.

Ross said that Joey and Rachel being together would make everyone uncomfortable. Joey didn't buy it, the only person that Rachel and he would make uncomfortable was Ross himself. Joey found that to be a pretty selfish reason to keep your best friend away from confessing his feelings to his first love.

Joey did agree with some of Ross' reasoning though. After all Rachel was pregnant with his kid, they had been married once, and their relationship never had any real closure. He knew if he acted on his feelings he would be betraying Ross. But he also felt like Ross was betraying him by asking him not to act on them.

He reclined his chair and closed his eyes, there had to be a peaceful solution to this problem. He just had to concentrate on it. But before he could really get down to thinking, the door opened, and in walked his roommate.

Joey opened his eyes to glance up at her, and by the look on her face he could tell something was on her mind. He silently prayed that Ross didn't tell her. "Hey… What's the matter?"

Rachel sat her purse down on the counter and sat down on the stool beside it. She sighed and then spoke, "Joey, we have to talk."

Joey had heard those words before, and he was smart enough to know that they never led in to a pleasant conversation. His hope that Ross didn't tell her was fading fast. "Sure."

Rachel adjusted herself on the stool and cleared her throat. "Ok, um, Joey…today, I talked to Ross…" Joey's heart sunk inside. Ross had sold him out. "And, we were discussing the baby…and we both came to the conclusion…that it would probably be best if…I moved in with him…"

Joey felt his heart break. He didn't want her to go. Even if it was just across the street, it seemed so much bigger. Like she was moving away from him personally. "Wh…why? Why would you wanna move?"

"Joey…it's just that…I should be living with the father of my baby…me and you both know that…I need someone who can help me take care of the baby…"

"I can do that!"

"Joey, come on. I need someone experienced. You're just…you're not…"

"I'm not what Rach?"

"You're just not grown up enough to take care of a child Joe. I mean come on! You're not ready for this!"

It was taking everything he had to not let his eyes tear up…if she only knew how much he had grown in the last few weeks. He tried to stay focus on the positive…at least she didn't know about his feelings…or at least she wasn't letting him know she knew.

He couldn't believe this was happening. How could Ross do this? Go behind his back and take the one person who meant everything to him away. And not because he wanted her, but just because he didn't want Joey to have her. Joey slowly felt his friendship with Ross slipping away…and at this point…he didn't really care. 

He had to stop her from going. He would beg, and he would plead. But he refused to let the woman he loved move out of his home. He wouldn't be able to see her smile whenever he wanted to, he couldn't sit down and watch a movie with her whenever they felt bored…he was losing the best thing that ever happened to him.

"Rach…don't go…I love having you here…and…Come on! Living with me can't be that bad! We laugh, we hangout…we have fun! I mean who's more fun than me?! I'm Mr. Fun!"

"I know…but I just don't have time for fun anymore." And with that, she walked out of the apartment. 

She had to tell a lot of people she was moving, and Joey had to pick up the pieces of his broken heart.

He had called it from the beginning. Today was a bad day.


End file.
